Election 2024 updates: Trump begins selecting cabinet positions

In a statement Wednesday evening, former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama congratulated former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance on their election victory.

"This is obviously not the outcome we had hoped for, given our profound disagreements with the Republican ticket on a whole host of issues," they wrote. "But living in a democracy is about recognizing that our point of view won't always win out, and being willing to accept the peaceful transfer of power."

The Obamas said they "could not be prouder" of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who they lauded as "two extraordinary public servants who ran a remarkable campaign."

"In a country as big and diverse as ours, we won't always see eye-to-eye on everything. But progress requires us to extend good faith and grace -- even to people with whom we deeply disagree," the statement read. "That's how we've come this far, and it's how we'll keep building a country that is more fair and more just, more equal and more free."

Jan. 6 rioters watched the election returns from behind bars, several of their family members told ABC News.

Families of the incarcerated rioters watched together -- and rejoiced -- in at least one gathering in Washington, D.C.

The inmates feel "vindicated," one family member said, and many are eagerly awaiting promised pardons from former President Donald Trump.

Also watching the results Tuesday night were police officers, 140 of whom were injured by rioters on Jan. 6.

"America, it feels like you've forgotten me and so many others, but somehow I still love and am glad to have served you," retired Officer Winston Pingeon wrote Wednesday morning in a post on X.

In a statement released moments after Vice President Kamala Harris' concession speech, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state would "seek to work with" former President Donald Trump.

"California will seek to work with the incoming president -- but let there be no mistake, we intend to stand with states across our nation to defend our Constitution and uphold the rule of law," Newsom said.

Newsom applauded Harris, who he said "set out to fight to defend our fundamental freedoms and build a country that works for everyone."

"She stood up for working families, decency, and opportunity," he said. "Though this is not the outcome we wanted, our fight for freedom and opportunity endures."

Progressive independent Bernie Sanders, who won re-election in Vermont Tuesday, put out a scathing statement Wednesday about the Democratic party's "disastrous" campaign.

"It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they're right," Sanders said.

In addition to reflections on the ways that the party has failed to deliver economic stability to working class people, the statement also criticized the continued spending of "billions funding the extremist Netanyahu government's all-out war against the Palestinian people which has led to the horrific humanitarian disaster of mass malnutrition and the starvation of thousands of children. "

He said a "'serious discussion" is now merited about the path forward and cast doubt on the party's ability to learn its lesson.

"Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign? Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not."